More than 280 showed up to Thursday’s Fiscal Court meeting, filling both the room and hallway. Owensboro resident and Realtor Tyler Shookman spoke on behalf of the LGBTQ community, imploring County commissioners to consider approving a nondiscrimination ordinance.
“At a very young age, I knew that I was different, and I struggled with who I truly was because of my Christian faith,” Shookman said, adding that he lived a double-life until his early 20s because he was told that homosexuals would go to hell as he sat in a church pew, and had a fear of being disowned.
“I would pray myself to sleep. It was to the point in my young life where I contemplated suicide,” he said. “I have finally come to terms with who I am and live my life as my true, authentic self, saved by grace. The only choice I made was to be honest with myself and the people I love.”
Shookman said County commissioners had refused to protect all Daviess County residents from discrimination. Though Owensboro had come a long way, he said, it hadn’t come far enough.
“This is an utter disappointment to all of us, and a complete failure of our local, collected officials,” he said. “I don’t want the city I love to be known as a city of hate and discrimination. I firmly believe that, one day, all of us will live in a city that protects all of its city from discrimination. I believe in an Owensboro where who you love is not the deciding factor in whether or not our city will protect you from discrimination. I believe in an Owensboro where a child doesn’t have to go to school in fear because they are bullied and discriminated against because they are gay. Owensboro’s future should be one where all people, regardless of their differences, can live, work and learn in an environment free of discrimination and harassment.”
Fifteen other cities have passed nondiscrimination ordinances that protect all of their citizens, Shookman said.
“It’s disheartening to know that I live in a city where I can be fired, denied service and housing for being gay in the fourth largest city in Kentucky,” he said.
County Commissioner Geroge Wathen said many of those in favor of the nondiscrimination ordinance were the same people who liked to call those opposed to it “a bigot.”
“I would say there’s a good chance that those who opposed the fairness ordinance would at some point be forced to do things that demonstrate that they are approving same-sex behavior and that is against their moral convictions,” he said.
Wathen referenced the Colorado bakery that refused to make a gay couple’s wedding cake, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes organization, Chick-fil-A and county clerks like Rowan County’s Kim Davis as examples of those who’ve been pressured to drop their religious values.
“I also have a thought about what Jesus might say or do,” Wathen said. “I feel confident that Jesus would say, ‘Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.’ And I believe we must always do that. However, sometimes loving someone gets a little tricky. To truly love someone, you must tell them the truth.”
Wathen said he believed Jesus might also tell the people of Daviess County “moral truths never change.”
“They won’t change if the majority says they should, or if the polls read a certain way,” he said. “I can already see this ordinance causing tension in this community. If passed, people will start testing their boundaries on the new laws and the rules. There will be lines drawn, and people who are naturally fair will follow the law. There will be more lawsuits. Decisions will be made for the wrong reasons — all because of an ordinance.”
Wathen implored this ordinance be “put to rest” and stop “prolonging the inevitable.”
“I am asking that we end this discussion by doing one of two things,” Wathen asked Judge-Executive Al Mattingly. “Either declare this ordinance dead on arrival because it needs three votes to pass, and there are not three votes. Or, put the ordinance up for a vote. Quit dragging our feet. Put a vote on up there and let’s get it over with.”
Mattingly told Wathen he would not declare the ordinance dead on arrival.
“I hear your call, but I am not going to do what you ask,” Mattingly said. “Secondly, there are a lot of things you brought up that I agree with. There are many things I disagree with. I think that if we avoided all the things that were divisive to this community, we’d still have black people climbing the stairs at [the theatre], we’d have them sitting at a different table in restaurants, we’d have them going in the back of buildings. I believe that women would not be voting today if we didn’t discuss these things. Discussion is what brings people together and we need to be thinking about commonality instead of the things that divide us.”
Mattingly did ask that no one discuss the nondiscrimination ordinance at the next Fiscal Court meeting as the agenda was very long and would require Fiscal Court to go into a closed session.
